Medina police training to save lives in mass shootings

MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP --Members of Medina, Medina Township, Montville Township police and members of Medina Schools are learning how to act fastand save lives in a mass shooting situation.

While police are usually the first on the scene in an active shooter case, their firstduty is to subdue the suspect. After that, they're now being trained to administer critical first aid to victims because often it takes some time forParamedics to arrive on scene. An arterial gunshot wound can cause someone to bleed to death in less than three minutes.

NavyCorpsman and MedinaParamedic, Brian Cavanaugh is leading the training that teaches police, fire and school faculty how to not only put a tourniquet on themselves or a patient but also deal with open chest wounds and providing airways.

"Every minute we wait, someone else dies. This is probably the most critical training we will do in our lifetimes," says Medina Police Chief Patrick Beraducci.

"Teachers aren't trained like this, this isn't anything they go through and with the things that have happened in the world it's in the back of their minds assomething they need to know," says Andy Brenner, Associate Principal at Medina High School.

Beraducci also believes by next year this training will begin taking place in every city in the nation.

Cleveland Clinic provided "Go Bags" for police cars that are stocked with bandages and other lifesaving tools that officers will take with them in crisis situations.